Family issues

FILE - In this Wednesday, June 20, 2018 file photo, President Donald Trump gives the pen he used to sign the executive order to end family separations to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, left, during an event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. On Saturday, Dec. 29, 2018, the president deflected any blame from his administration for the deaths of two Guatemalan children in December in U.S. government custody as his Homeland Security adviser visited Border Patrol medical officials amid promises of more thorough health screenings for migrant children. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Donald Trump sought to deflect blame for the deaths of two Guatemalan children in U.S. custody by claiming they were "very sick" when they arrived, even though immigration authorities have said both children passed initial health checks. Meanwhile, his Homeland Security chief visited...

This Dec, 12, 2018 photo provided by Catarina Gomez on Thursday, Dec. 27, 2018, shows her half-brother Felipe Gomez Alonzo, 8, near her home in Yalambojoch, Guatemala. The 8-year-old boy died in U.S. custody at a New Mexico hospital on Christmas Eve after suffering a cough, vomiting and fever, authorities said. The cause is under investigation. (Catarina Gomez via AP)

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is visiting the Texas border city where an 8-year-old Guatemalan boy was detained with his father and later died in government custody . DHS spokeswoman Katie Waldman said Nielsen is heading to El Paso on Friday. Waldman says...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top House Democrats, preparing to take control of key committees early next year, have called for the preservation of all evidence related to the two child deaths in Customs and Border Protection custody. An 8-year-old Guatemalan boy died Monday at a New Mexico hospital after...

This Dec, 12, 2018 photo provided by Catarina Gomez on Thursday, Dec. 27, 2018, shows her half-brother Felipe Gomez Alonzo, 8, near her home in Yalambojoch, Guatemala. The 8-year-old boy died in U.S. custody at a New Mexico hospital on Christmas Eve after suffering a cough, vomiting and fever, authorities said. The cause is under investigation. (Catarina Gomez via AP)

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The father of an 8-year-old Guatemalan boy who died in U.S. custody took his son to the border after hearing rumors that parents and their children would be allowed to migrate to the United States and escape the poverty in their homeland, the boy's stepsister told The...

FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2017, file photo, an agent from the border patrol, observes near the Mexico-US border fence, on the Mexican side, separating the towns of Anapra, Mexico and Sunland Park, N.M. An 8-year-old boy from Guatemala died in government custody early Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2018, U.S. immigration authorities said. (AP Photo/Christian Torres, File)

HOUSTON (AP) — The deaths of two migrant children in just over two weeks raised strong new doubts Wednesday about the ability of U.S. border authorities to care for the thousands of minors arriving as part of a surge of families trying to enter the country. An 8-year-old boy identified by...

FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2017, file photo, an agent from the border patrol, observes near the Mexico-US border fence, on the Mexican side, separating the towns of Anapra, Mexico and Sunland Park, N.M. An 8-year-old boy from Guatemala died in government custody early Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2018, U.S. immigration authorities said. (AP Photo/Christian Torres, File)

HOUSTON (AP) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection have ordered medical checks on every child in its custody after an 8-year-old boy from Guatemala died, marking the second death of an immigrant child in the agency's care this month. The death came during an ongoing dispute over border security and...

FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2017, file photo, an agent from the border patrol, observes near the Mexico-US border fence, on the Mexican side, separating the towns of Anapra, Mexico and Sunland Park, N.M. An 8-year-old boy from Guatemala died in government custody early Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2018, U.S. immigration authorities said. (AP Photo/Christian Torres, File)

HOUSTON (AP) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection ordered medical checks on every child in its custody Tuesday after an 8-year-old boy from Guatemala died, marking the second death of an immigrant child in the agency's care this month. The death came during an ongoing dispute over border security...

FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2017, file photo, an agent from the border patrol, observes near the Mexico-US border fence, on the Mexican side, separating the towns of Anapra, Mexico and Sunland Park, N.M. An 8-year-old boy from Guatemala died in government custody early Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2018, U.S. immigration authorities said. (AP Photo/Christian Torres, File)

HOUSTON (AP) — The Latest on the death of an 8-year-old boy from Guatemala who U.S. officials say has died in government custody (all times local): 11 p.m. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it is conducting new medical checks on every child in its custody after the second reported death of a...

Family members pay their final respects to 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin during a memorial service in her grandparent's home in San Antonio Secortez, Guatemala, Monday, Dec. 24, 2018. The body of the 7-year-old girl who died while in the custody of the U.S. Border Patrol was handed over to family members in her native Guatemala on Monday for a last goodbye. (AP Photo/ Oliver de Ros)

SAN ANTONIO SECORTEZ, Guatemala (AP) — The tiny white coffin carrying the body of the 7-year-old Guatemalan girl who died while in U.S. custody ended its somber journey home in the pre-dawn hours Monday in a dusty hamlet 220 miles north of the capital. Villagers wept and watched curiously as the...

Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel, left, Cuban First Vice President Salvador Valdes Mesa, second left, and Cuban Vice President Ramiro Valdez, center, attend the session to debate the draft of a new Constitution, at the Convention Palace in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Dec. 21, 2018. The draft will be submitted to a popular referendum on Feb. 24, 2019. Cuba's government said Tuesday that language promoting the legalization of gay marriage will be removed from the draft after widespread popular rejection of the idea. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba's National Assembly on Saturday approved an update of the country's constitution, the final step before a national referendum expected to approve the new charter in February. The new constitution contains more continuity than change, although it recognizes the de-facto...